( Important Authors NOtes!: Since ive started writting this fic, I've gained a lot of view and followers of this fic. Unfortunatly I dont' like how I've written Twilight's and Ash's love story. Infact, I didn't even intend to have them fall in love until way later. As a messure to rectify my wayward plot, I've decided to rewrite the story all togeather. I'll continue the plot of this initial story for those who like it the way it is but I will also be publishing extra chapters for a more faithful depiction of the characters. they will be labeled as " Hearts and Ashes, Chronology". Also as a side note, per 's rules, i cannot publish the story twice, so i can only publish the rewritten story as new chapters.

To sum up what i am going to do, I will:

-publish new chapters of the first initial version of my fic as normal chapters .

-publish the rehashed version as " Hearts and Ashes, Chronology."

I hope you will enjoy both or either. Thanks for you suport. :). )

Chapter 1

In the city of Canterlot, Hearts and Hooves day was in full swing. All around Equestria, ponies were spending time with their loved ones and Canterlot was no exception. Even the palace was decorated with the colors of love.

Twilight sparkle, Now a princess, was sitting next to Princess Celestia in her audience chamber as they waited expectantly for a certain stallion whom they had summoned to arrive. Twilight was a little nervous and it showed. Her eyes were fixed on the doors that were the entrance to the room and her hooves jostled around to find an ever elusive comfortable position. Princess Celestia eventually leaned over to ask,

" Is something the matter dear princess?" Princess Celestia's emotions were the very opposite of Twilight's. Her mood was bright and playful while her posture was tall, confident and majestic.

Twilight: " Oh no Princess, I'm just... a little nervous to meet him." . Celestia's mouth turned up into a grin,

Celestia: " Why would you be nervous to meet him? It's not like you to be shy like this. You did your research so be confident in your decision; it was a wise one." Twilight met Celestia's gaze.

Twilight: " I know, But what if i didn't? I can't help but worry if he is really the right pick. I'm even worried if we will get along." Twilight looked down at the floor as her worries manifested in her eyes. Celestia let out a small giggle. Twilight looked up at her in slight shock.

Celestia: " Oh Twilight, you need not worry about that. He comes highly recommended and I know you will get along with him easily. I have confidence in your ability to make connections. Besides, he won't be able to resist your charm." Celestia winked teasingly at Twilight as she said this. Twilight blushed and looked down again.

Twilight: " Princess! You make it sound like I'm picking out a boyfriend!" This comment made Celestia giggle even more.

Celestia: " Well how do you think your brother and princess Cadence met?" Twilight grew even more red.

Twilight: " Princess!" Celestia almost outright laughed. Then she had to stifle her giggles.

The doors to the audience room creaked open as a white pegasus guard trotted in.

Guard: " Your Majesties, The Lieutenant has just arrived as summoned and is waiting to be presented." Celestia was now looking up at the guard and with a smile she said,

" Good! Bring him in!" Celestia said with was now staring at the open doors. Her hooves had instantly gotten sweatier and her fidgeting increased. The white pegasus moved to the side and he brought his right front hoof up to his right eyebrow in a salute. A small time passed as the sound of hoof steps could be heard just outside the entrance. Then an armored figure of a dark grey unicorn stallion with gold eyes and mane trotted into the the room. He was young and fit. His military uniform was not the ornately styled gold armor of the Royal Guard, but rather, it was the black and steel armor of the Equestrian army. His armor was polished and clean, but it bared many deep gouges and scratches. The helmet was also ordinary for it didn't have the blue plume on top but instead the helmet had a ridged spine that ran from the hole for the horn, to the back of the helmet. The young officer also bared a couple of scars; one prominent scar was on his right cheek.

He trotted past the the guard who let him in and he continued to trot up to the princesses stopping short of them by five meters. He took his helmet off with his hooves and held on to it under his right foreleg, he bowed to the Princesses and said in a clear, young, confident voice,

"Your majesty's, Lieutenant Ash, reporting as summoned." his voice echoed in the hall. His assertive demeanor began to put Twilight off, as she was hoping for someone more friendly. From his Records, L.T. Ash of the 125th Army battalion was a well seasoned vet with deployments all around Equestria, including Southern Equestria. What made him stand out above the rest of the candidate pool was his level of magic ability and several commendations as well as several recommendations including one from Celestia her self. Still Twilight was worried.

Celestia: " Welcome Lieutenant, it is good to see you here." Twilight was looking everywhere but at Ash. She didn't want him to notice her nervousness. The young LT. got up and turned around to face the first guard as he saluted back to him. Only then did the pegasus bring his hoof down and then he marched out of the room. Ash turned to face the two princesses again.

" Do you know why you are here, lieutenant?" Celestia asked.

" Your highness, I believe I'm here for a new assignment." Ash answered as he looked over at Twilight who seemed to be very aloof.

" Yep that's her, and like before, she doesn't seem to notice me." Ash thought to himself.

(11 years ago)

Ash, a young unicorn colt who lived in Canterlot, was getting his school bag ready to go to magic grade school. It was hearts and hooves day and all the city was in its decor of love.

Ash also had a special card for a special somepony. He never talked to her, mostly because she had her head stuck in a book all the time, but he was definitely interested in the young filly because he thought she was the prettiest filly he had ever seen. She was a purple unicorn with pink and violet stripes in her mane. She still lacked her cutie mark as did he and she was always reading a book, usually a new one every day.

It was rare, but whenever Ash worked up enough courage to go talk to her. Unfortunatly she usually didn't notice him and would continue trotting on past him. Not that it would deter him from further attempts, but this hurt him. He felt insignificant and useless. However today was going to be different. He was going to stand in her way until she acknowledged him and took his card. It was an all or nothing plan. For better or for worse, she was going to notice him.

Usually he would cross paths with her on the way to school at the corner of a doughnut shop. The corner was close to the Royal Guard academy as well and many cadets attending could be seen around it.

Ash set up his ambush site around the corner of the doughnut shop. He sat there with the card in his saddlebag and sure enough he could see the cute young filly trotting along with a book in her ethereal hold as he peeked around the corner. Oh but he was extremely nervous and he had to continuously fight the urge to take off and not talk to her.

The young filly was about 30 meters down the street when Ash heard another filly crying.

" What the hey?" Ash thought to himself. Out of curiosity, he looked for the source of the crying. Then he heard an older colt's voice.

" What's the matter, you're gonna cry like a little baby? WAAAA! Ha ha ha!" The voice said. This made Ash drop what he was doing and trot over to the alley next to him, where he heard the colt's voice.

" Hey give it back, That's mine!" The filly screamed. Ash rounded the corner of the entrance into the alley. He saw a white pegasus filly with sky blue eyes and light blue mane. She was hopping up as high as she could, just shy of reaching a doll being dangled by an older brown pegasus colt who was hovering over the filly.

" Well then why don't you get it from me? What's the matter, can't fly? Ha ha ha!" He laughed at her as she tried to grab the doll. Tears had been streaming down her cheeks for a while now and her efforts became increasingly more desperate.

" Come on now you can do it. ha ha ha..." His cackle was aggravating and just as he was laughing, a stone hit his hoof and the doll landed on the ground.

Colt: " Hey! Who did that!?"

Ash was levitating another stone as he stared down the older and much bigger pegasus colt. Normally, Ash wasn't too keen on picking fights with bigger ponies, but this one was a huge jerk and Ash wasn't about to just trot away. He wasn't' afraid to stand up for some pony, especially a filly being bullied the way she was.

" Do you have death wish or something?" the colt asked Ash.

" What's the matter, can't pick on anypony your age? You're probably too weak to pick on the bigger Colts aren't you?. " Ash just couldn't keep his mouth shut. He knew taunting the jerk would make him mad.

" Say that to my face." The colt said now facing Ash in a hover.

" Why don't you come down here so I can?" Ash smiled. The colt hoovered for a moment with a look of deep thought on his face. Then a smile showed.

" OK." he said calmly. Then , like a flash of lightening, the pegasus shot down at Ash and knocked him into the building behind him. The stone went skipping across the street and Ash laid on the ground in a daze. He didn't expect him to be so fast. The pegasus landed next to Ash and he was laughing.

" What's the matter, Don't you have something to say to me? Pft! You weren't even a challenge!" The Colt scoffed at him. Ash shook his head to clear his senses, then he tried to get up, he was slow.

" Looks like you were all talk little foal!" Ash thrust a hoof up that would have made contact with the pegasus's face, but he moved to the left and Ash went stumbling down past him.

"Leave him alone, you're going to hurt him!" The filly demanded.

" Shut up squirt! He asked for it when he showed up! Now hes gonna get it!" The colt looked down at Ash, who was trying to get back up again. The colt let him as he laughed at him. The filly wanted to help but she didn't want to get hurt either.

Just then another colt trotted up to the alleyway and shouted to the older colt,

" Hey Blitz, come on already! Were going to be late for roll call!" Blitz turned to answer back,

" Yeah, Just give me a sec!" Ash was up and still in a daze from the impact he had been in.

the colt looked at Ash and with his left hoof, he punched Ash in the right eye and hit him to the ground.

" I hope you learned your lesson blank flank!" Then he flew off towards the Academy.

Ash didn't get up for a few while because his face was in too much pain. His eye swelled up so he couldn't see out of it, his lip bled and his head pounded with pain. The filly pegasus trotted over to Ash leaving her precious doll behind on the ground.

" Are you ok? Oh this is all my fault! I so sorry! please get up!" she said as she was sobbing. Her voice was high pitched but easy on the ears. Ash started getting up slowly and then he was on all hooves. He looked around through his open eye and surveyed the alley for the colt. He was slightly disoriented and wasn't sure what happened exactly. Then he looked at the filly, she was crying still and was looking him in the eyes.

" uhh,... are you ok?" Ash asked wearly

" Yes... are you?" She relied.

" sort of... you should do a better job of standing up for your self." He said while looking at her with his good eye.

" I know, if only I could fly..." She said. Ash got annoyed.

" No! Flying had nothing to do with it, it was because you were playing his game!" This warented a look of confsion fro the filly.

"never let him control you!" Ash advised her. The filly stared at Ash in shock. What he said resonated immediately in her head.

"Really?" The filly asked.

" That's what my dad always tells me, 'never live by someone else rules when they don't care about you.'" The filly eyes brightened and a smile forced its way onto her. She was intrigued by her new friend.

" What's your name? I'm Blue Ember!" Her voice sounded perkier.

" I'm Ash. Whats yours?" He asked, ending with a moan as he was gently rubbing his face.

" I'm Blue Ember. What were you doing here Ash?" Ash looked up and his open eye was wider. "Oh no!" he thought to himself. Ash stumbled out of the alley way and towards the corner. He looked around in a desperate manner. Ember Followed right behind him. She had a look of concern and confusion as she stared at him.

" What's wrong Ash?" She said cautiously.

" ( grrr) She gone."

" Who's gone?" She asked.

" The filly I was going to give this to!" Ash levitated his card out of his saddle bag, which had been crumpled in the scuffle. Ember recognized it as a hearts and hooves day card. Suddenly she was sad again.

" Who is she?"She asked, saddened. Ash then gave up as he knew The filly had been long gone.

"( Sigh) A purple unicorn who trots this way every morning. I think we go to the same school but i don't even know her name." Ember looked down in dejection.

" Twilight." she muttered.

" huh?" he said with surprise Confusion.

" Twilight sparkle. her brother is an upper class pony at the royal guard academy." She said a little louder. Finally, Ash had a name to go with the filly.

" ...Thank you!" he said with a smile. " Well I need to go to school/." Ember was still looking dejected. Ash looked in the doughnut Shop's window reflection. He looked pretty messed up.

" My parrents are going to kill me!" He said.

" Take care, it was kind of nice meeting you Ember!" he said as he turned and started to limp off. Ember looked up in surprise. he said it was kind of nice to meet her. Another smile made its way on her face.

" Do... do you walk this way every morning too?" She asked timidly.

" Yes." he said looking back and then continuing to trot his way to school. Ember wanted to help him but she felt he wouldn't take her help and she was kind of shy.

" OK! See you around!" she said out to him. " See you around." she said softly to herself, as she blushed.